Happy Year of the Tiger. Inspired by pop culture, television, animals andmonsters, Cultured Critter Collective's Valerie G's vinyl toys are darling. Eachhas a well developed character and background story.
Using anything from leather, steel, satins and silk, TheStitchWitch also likesbeads, leaded crystal, feathers, wire, bones and the occasionally shiny deadbug. The calla lilies were inspired by the flowers at her mother's funeral.
Spleen models an 18th century-inspired dress. “WHAM seems like a great way toshowcase my work as well as check out what else other creative types in Houstoncan do."
Razz, the Day of the Dead Skullybear. Valerie G's works include Sparklysnowflake ornaments and desserts, custom vinyl and ceramic critters, hand-sewncustom plush, critter photography, acrylic paintings and 3-D collages.
A crime scene investigator and seamstress specializing in custom corsetry andfine couture, Michelle AKA TheStitchWitch is inspired by anything dark andspooky.Photo by Chris McKay/Nocturnal Utopia
Yeti Manbearpig. South Park's "Manbearpig" was the inspiration behind thispiece, where Al Gore fabricates a ridiculous yet menacing creature. Valerie G'sManbearpigs are designed in three different styles: Original, Punk and Yeti.
Spacetaker's Winter Holiday Art Market (WHAM) brings together 60 of Houston mostcreative personalities showcasing their latest work for your shoppingconvenience.Photo by David A. Brown
This year’s Houston Cinema Arts Festival (HCAF), which starts this Thursday, November 6, offers plenty of film screenings – both feature-length films and shorts – as well as panel discussions, Q&As, workshops, etc. But the fest will also have a staged reading of the TV pilot Hoopztown, this Saturday at 2 pm at Six Foot Studios.
Hoopztown centers around Maya Hernandez, a gifted, multiracial athlete on track to be considered for the inaugural WNBA in 1996. She moves back to her hometown of Houston, where it’s revealed that her mother, a janitor at Houston Medical Center, is diagnosed with cancer.
The project is created and written by Fleurette S. Fernando, an educator, director, choreographer, arts administrator, and founding director of the M.A. in Arts Leadership Program at University of Houston, where she serves as an associate professor. “I wrote this story for the women in my life; my mother, my sisters, my teachers, my colleagues, my girlfriends, my students and particularly for my daughter,” says Fernando. “Her journey as a student athlete and the relationships she built with the girls on her various teams through the turbulent and magical years of her youth was an inspiration.”
Collaborators Elizabeth Sosa Bailey and Fleurette S. Fernando.Courtesy of Elizabeth Sosa Bailey
Hoopztown has gone through multiple iterations. During the 2015 ATX TV Festival Pitch Competition, Fernando was a finalist for her concept of the project. From there, the pilot (originally titled Hoopz) and loglines for a 10-episode run were put into motion. That first episode, titled “Rebound,” focuses on Maya’s first day at her new job, coaching a girls’ basketball team at a racially and socioeconomically diverse high school.
“Hoopztown is an ode to a woman’s journey through the lens of many races, ages and circumstances,” she says. “It’s a tribute to the underdog and a homage to a woman’s perilous path through a man’s world. Nowhere is this struggle more acutely demonstrated, mentally, emotionally, physically and economically, than in the arena of competitive sports in America.”
Since Fernando and her creative partner, Elizabeth Sosa Bailey, are both active members of
the Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) board, they knew they had to do a reading during this year’s fest.
“There is so much of myself that I see in this story, as someone who left a career to return home when my father was diagnosed with cancer and as a mixed race Latina understanding the duality of identity,” says Sosa Bailey. “Even the high school that Hoopztown is set in is much like my own. I attended Lamar High School, making me about a decade younger than the characters in the story. There are all of these wonderful little coincidences in Hoopztown.”
The project is a beneficiary of its second Houston Arts Alliance grant made possible through the
City of Houston Mayors Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA). The reading cast includes over 20 actors, with Eva Marie Thomas playing the main role. Open to the public with a Pay What You Can ticket structure, the event invites the audience to experience the first run-through of what is slated to be the first episode, filmed in Houston using local cast and crew. The audience can also provide feedback and contribute to the project’s fundraising initiative to get to the next stage of filming.
For tickets, go to the Houston Cinema Arts Festival website.
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